A report prepared for the City of Ottawa's Transit Commission says that OC Transpo's electric buses are performing as well as the existing diesel fleet, allaying concerns about the future transition to a fully electric fleet.The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
"The E-Buses are comparable to the average mileage of our diesel fleets," the report says."The transition to an electric-bus fleet should not have an impact on service capacity." The third issue was"range anxiety", where drivers feared the bus wouldn't be able to complete a trip based on its current charge. This is something the city anticipates it will see routinely until more drivers are trained on the electric buses.More e-buses are expected to arrive in the city by the end of 2024. The report says the city signed an adoption agreement in 2023 with New Flyer Industries to supply 51 buses.
Another 110 buses are scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2026. This will include 92 forty-foot buses and 18 sixty-foot buses. Another 136 sixty-foot buses are scheduled to arrive in the latter half of 2027.The report says charging infrastructure for a larger number of electric buses is under construction.
The city says it is also acquiring two 4MW generators, two 44kV/13.8kV transformers two 13.8kV switchgears with eHouses, protection, and control devices to support the charging infrastructure, which are all expected to be on-site in 2025.